How Do Taxes Influence Behavior?

Legislators have three needs in mind as they prepare tax laws- -the need to raise revenue, the need to be fair to taxpayers, and the need to influence taxpayers’ behavior. Below are three excise taxes that have affected the economy and consumers’ behaviors. All are direct taxes.

A sin tax is used to discourage the use of products and services that could pose a risk to someone’s health, such as alcohol and cigarettes. Puritan colonists used the earliest sin taxes in this country.

The gasoline excise tax is a user tax on gasoline purchases. People who use gasoline pay taxes on it. These revenues maintain and build roads and highways and regulate underground pollution related to gas storage. Urban area mass transportation is developed and maintained by gas tax revenue.

Luxury taxes are taxes on expensive, nonessential items, such as luxury cars. Revenue from luxury taxes is redistributed through government programs that benefit all citizens.

As a former public defender, Michael has defended the poor, the forgotten, and the damned against a gov. that has seemingly unlimited resources to investigate and prosecute crimes. He has spent the last six years cutting his teeth on some of the most serious felony cases, obtaining favorable results for his clients. He knows what it’s like to go toe to toe with the government. In an adversarial environment that is akin to trench warfare, Michael has developed a reputation as a fearless litigator.

Michael graduated from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He then earned his LLM in International Tax. Michael’s unique background in tax law puts him into an elite category of criminal defense attorneys who specialize in criminal tax defense. His extensive trial experience and solid grounding in all major areas of taxation make him uniquely qualified to handle any white-collar case.

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